Fire in the Water
by Shiori Pecan
Summary: This is my first story, and I hope that you like it. I had some help editing from Isabel Juno. Please Reveiw.


Fire in the Water

By Shiori Pecan

Intro

The stars gazed silently at the dry ground. Rain hadn't come to the spirit world in a long time. Even the sea line was receding, less spirits were coming to the island, and more spirits were dieing. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. Haku sensed the silent stars watch the dying island. He wondered if it was with pity or with perverse pleasure. The stars never had missed a day of the torture. Haku wondered whether they were the peaceful hope he always believed they were, or were they just the ones who predicted the doom that would follow the night's silence.

e sat on the old bridge that connected the bathhouse to the island. It was the first place he had seen Chihiro since she was a child. He winced in pain and looked at his dreary reflection. He had grown older and he knew she had as well. He wondered how old Chihiro was, and stopped knowing that the answer would only bring pain. Spirits age slower then humans and if he were to look in his late twenties she could be in her eighties, or worse … dead.

Many of the spirits had thought Chihiro's leaving was what started the drought. They blamed her and many were mad at Ubaba for letting her go, and in turn they also shunned Haku for forcing Ubaba to make the decision to let her go. Very few knew that she wasn't the reason for the drought, but only one knew the reason for the drought, Amasachi the Rainmaker, and unluckily for the island he disappeared long ago.

Sullen Drive

The rain fell silently on the roof of the car, just when Tsukiko thought that it couldn't get any worse. She pressed her forehead against the cool glass of the window staring at people running about in the rain with or without their umbrellas. They had been in the car for six hours and all she had to do was weight four more hours and they would be in a new town in a new school and in a new life. She couldn't believe her mom would divorce her dad and move to a different town all in the middle of her senior year. She sighed and slouched in her chair kicking the front passenger seat. Her brother slammed forward against his seatbelt. "Ouch! That hurt Tsuki!" Her mom sighed and sounding annoyed she said, "Tsukiko Aoi Kobayashi stop this right now, you know how uncomfortable I am driving in the rain the last thing I need is you two fighting." Tsukiko huffed and kicked one more time. They both knew that meant she was done for now but it wouldn't be the last time her temper would flare up.

She angrily grabbed her MP3 player and listened to some of the 5,6,7,8's. She wasn't able to bring all of her CDs because her mom just came home late yesterday night with her makeup all smeared and runny, she wouldn't answer any questions, all she said was to gather their things. When they left the house Tsukiko noticed a note that her mother must have left on the door.

_Dear Yuudai,_

_I'm leaving, and I'm taking my children with me._

_No Longer Yours,_

_ Ai._

Her mom still wouldn't give any answers. She just told them that they were moving and that they were going to be enrolled into wonderful schools with many extracurricular activities. When her brother Makoto asked about their father, she just sighed and said "He is not coming." Neither of them could get anything else out of her. Tsukiko stared at the drops racing down the window, as if they were running from the frightening tempest that was soon to come.

The Storm

The rain continued to pummel the ground with increasing ferocity, a foreboding filled the air in the car as they approached their new home. Tsukiko wiped the cold frosted glass with her hand. She peered through the misty window looking at the dingy old apartment. It looked more like a warehouse then an apartment building. The cold brick building looked just as foreboding as the worsening storm that was predicted to come later that night. Her mother sighed.

"Ah Home sweet home." She had already opened her door and was telling Makoto to get things out of the car. She saw Tsukiko looking as uncooperative as ever, scowling into her bag Tsukiko grabbed MP3 player and stuffed it away with the rest of her salvaged treasures. "Don't be like this Tsuki. Things seem bad right now but they'll get better, don't worry about it. It'll be great to get a new start wont it honey?" Tsukiko angrily slung her backpack over her arm and slammed the car door in response. Her mother only sighed and started walking towards the apartment getting the keys out of her pocket and searching for the apartment number."Isn't it lovely kids? We have a wonderful porch and a door to the outside! Isn't it wonderful?" She smiled as if the ride and the night before had never happened. They all walked into the apartment. Most of the walls were red exposed bricks, which made the place colder. The entryway enters into the kitchen/dining and living area. The apartment had high ceilings, seeing that they were on top floor. There was an enclosed loft right over the living area. Tsukiko looked around, the apartment was small and it smelled strange, like the smell of blood and sweat mixing together.

"Gross! It smells like the boys gym in here!" Tsukiko moaned.

"I know that it smells strange but a little air freshener and we'll be fine." Her mom smiled and put the bags on the ground.

Makoto hid behind his mom he looked up at his mom frightened. "It smells like something died in here. I don't like it! Mommy I want to go home!"

Tears started to form in his eyes. Tsukiko watched her mom bend down and pick up her brother hugging him and telling him things would be all right. That the smell will go away, that they would get the house all nice and cozy and decorate it anyway they wanted it. She even told him that if he wanted that he could spray graffiti on his bedroom wall. Tsukiko could see her mother breaking down crying just like her little brother, making promises that everything would be better. Tsukiko leaned against one of the brick walls and asked,

"When were things any worse?" Her moms red eyes looked angrily at Tsukiko with her arms still around Makoto.

"Look young lady we have to make the best of things don't you know that!" She yelled, and Makoto whaled louder. "Look at this your scaring your brother!"

"Yah! Well you're scaring me mom! You just wake us both up in the middle of the night and tell us to pack up and leave! What the heck is up with you!" Tsukiko growled. Her mom sighed and hugged her brother once more, made him look her in the face and said,

"Look honey you go and look for a room ok? Your sister and I need to talk." Makoto mopped a bit more but made a shaky nod and started sluggishly down the hall. Tsukiko looked amusedly at her mother. Her mom sighed once more after Makoto slammed a door. "Tsuki, you shouldn't have started this argument in front of your brother. He's only six you know."

"I know how old my brother is, but I don't know why you did this." Tsukiko scowled at there new moldy kitchen cabinets. They were already a sickly yellow with green mold on the top from a leak in the ceiling that must have been there since the building was built.

"Listen Tsuki, we had to leave, I can't tell you everything. I just need to build a new life for myself, I enrolled you all in the best school around and I'm finally going to go to college like I've been dreaming to do for years."

"You want a new life! That sounds more like an excuse to make a life without dad!" Tsukiko huffed and climbed up the latter to the loft and slammed the trapdoor after her. She looked around at the walls, the loft was a new addition to the apartment, the wall still had the support beams and the instillation was still exposed. Pieces of drywall were lying on the unfinished carpeting. The last people who owned the apartment must have left in a hurry. They didn't even finish the room, or even take the materials with them. Half of a wall was dry-walled. Tsukiko was surprised that the insulation wasn't full of mold. She shrugged and said, "I might as well finish where they left off." She pulled back her hair into a ponytail and looked at the one wall that was finished. It had a big warehouse like window looking over the rest of the town. Even without the rain Tsukiko could tell it was going to be a big dreary town. Tsukiko sighed as she began to pick up the first piece of dry-wall.

Dinner with a Doctor

It took Tsukiko most of the rest of the day to put the rest of the dry-wall up. She had already claimed the room as her own. She deserved the room that she put so much work into. She got lazy with the carpeting and just unrolled it and cut out a square where the trap door was. The smell of her mother's famous tamagoyaki made her hungry and she quietly climbed down from her roost.

They didn't have a table so they sat at the kitchen's island. Tsukiko's mother was really quiet and she thought that her mom was still angry so she quietly ate her tamagoyaki. Makoto was trying to stuff half of his sunomono in his mouth at once, and burped loudly. "This is delicious mom! Just what the doctor ordered!" He said with vinegar smeared all over his face.

"Makoto and I have been playing doctor's office while you were ruining that room up there." Tsukiko decided not to be defensive because she did make quite a lot of racket and no one had seen the room but her before.

"Yah well you could have called me and I could have been your nurse! You know I love playing Doctor Office with you Dr. Makoto!" She laughed and messed up her brother's hair, telling them she was ok with everything now. "By the way mom, you want to see my new room?" Her mother looked shocked she still thought that Tsukiko had destroyed the room.

"I already set up the second airbed in your brother's room!"

"Well he's a big boy he can have his own room right?" Makoto looked sadly at his plate. "But if you already have the Airbed set up then I suppose me and Dr. Makoto could have a sleepover tonight." She smiled and looked at her brother. "You know I could give you a makeover, would you like that!" She laughed as Makoto screamed no as he shielded himself from Tsukiko's tickle fight.

"The ad had said that they only had two bed rooms and a bit of unfinished attic space." Tsukiko stopped tickling her brother and smiled at her mom.

"Well it's a bit more finished then you thought now. Because the last people who were here didn't take the supplies and stuff with them, I've been spending most of the day putting dry-wall up. The insulation wasn't even damaged. When did these people move out?"

"Last week, they had a family member that had cancer and they moved out so that they could be with them in Tokyo." Her mom turned her head as she started to do the dishes.

"Well now that the room is dry-walled and carpeted could I use it as a room? Please, we won't even have enough junk to get any use out of an attic. Come on can I use it as a room? Come on, Makoto wants to have his own room too don't you!" Makoto's face lit up, they had both shared a room as long as Makoto was alive he had always wanted his own room.

"Couldn't I mommy! Please!" They both got on there knees with pouts on there faces. "Pretty Please!" There mom looked at them laughing,

"Ok, ok, How could I refuse those pretty faces." She pulled both of them into a big bear hug, and Tsukiko and her mom got the airbed and set it up in the loft. Everyone said good night and went to their beds.

Sleepless Night

The storm had worsened as the night grew on. Lightning danced though the window of Tsukiko's new room. She pulled her comforter closer to herself as she watched the reflections flash on the wall. She didn't want to watch the storm, she always thought she saw more frightening things in a room when a night storm came. Then she would get overly frightened and not be able to get to sleep. The lightning pounded the ground, coming closer each time light flashed. Tsukiko had remembered thinking it was a good thing there was only one leak in the whole apartment or they might have to swim to the door the next morning. A particularly loud crack of thunder was followed quickly with a weak rap on her trapdoor. She got up slowly and opened the door. Her brother was sucking his thumb and had a blanket rapped around his back.

"I can't get to sleep, can I sleep with you tonight." Tears were forming around his eyes.

"Yah sure, but I'm not so sure you'd like to sleep up here, you can see the lightning through the window."

"I don't care. I just scared that something is watching me. And if I slept in the same room as you, you could you could be there to protect to protect me." He stuttered. He climbed up into the room, his curly blond hair messier then normal.

"Yah of course I will Makoto." He fell onto the airbed and curled up in his blankets. Tsukiko did the same only she faced the window and the wrath of the storm.


End file.
